Chapter 1: After the Gala
“Run.” Celestia whispered to Twilight as the once dull scenery raged with chaos. Twilight whistled to her friends, giving them the signal to hurry towards the exit. They all heard the sharp noise and stopped what they were doing to follow her down the castle steps, crossing the large drawbridge and climbing into their apple-shaped carriage.
“What in the hay is going on in…” Shamrock started, but he was instantly cut off by Rarity while her friends rushed into the vehicle. Transparent
“Don‘t talk, just PULL!” She ended her command with a sudden burst of energy, successfully persuading the two ponies to pull posthaste.
“WAIT!” A male’s voice called as a short, black earth pony dodged a pair of panicking deer. After jumping over an armadillo, he managed to finally separate himself from the turmoil, small bits of cake and icing falling from his food encrusted tuxedo shirt as he crossed the bridge. He watched the carriage rush down the cobblestone road with his neon green eyes glowing dimly in the dark while his short, dark green mane and tail dripped with purple punch. His head sank towards the ground as he scowled “Great.” He brought it back up, now pointing it to the sky with his eyes tightly closed in anger, “Just great.”
“Move, out of my way…” A deep, sophisticated voice came from inside as another pony managed to escape as well. It was a rusted red colored unicorn with a somewhat muscular build, his horn broken off to a thick, jagged stump very close to his forehead wearing nothing but a small, soaked red bowtie and an equally drenched maroon cape that covered his back and flank , his wringing blond hair draped stuck to his neck and hanging over one of his piercing sage colored eyes. He stopped beside the black pony as he continued to point his head to the sky, “Didn‘t catch‘em?”
“No…” He brought his head back down, sat back on the well cleaned path, and brought his hooves within several inches of each other in front of his face, “…and I was ‘this’ close too.” He complained, sprawling his front legs out in front of himself flat on the ground, sagging his head and ears in disappointment. “We’ll never find her now.” The unicorn took a seat on the ground as well before leaning a bit closer to his friend when he asked, “Are you even sure she‘s the one who can help us? Other than that dress, she didn‘t exactly look that special.”
“I know she is, I saw her talking to Princess Celestia herself.” The unicorn answered as the black pony stood back up, leaving a moist, pony-shaped imprint where he once laid.
“And you‘ve already tried speaking with the princess?” The earth pony asked, raising an eyebrow at his accomplice as he stood up too, “The way I see it, that‘s our best…”
“Yes, Dawn.” He cut his friend off in anger. After seeing the small pony recoil, he caught himself and took a deep breathe to cool his temper. “She’s the highest power we have here in Equestria. I’m sure you can understand the fact that making an appointment with her would he near impossible for a couple of noponies like us.
A few minutes of silence had passed, or at least as close to silent as it could get with a large amount of activity still going on within the castle walls, leaking noise and complaining comments through the large open windows before the unicorn spoke, trying to lighten the atmosphere, “The stars look lovely tonight. Luna may have been a little out of practice, but I think she‘s almost perfected it again.” He looked back to his friend, seeing that the anger had almost completely subsided, “What do you think Dawn?”
“I think we should just give up. Besides, it’s not exactly like magic exists anyway, much less anything like a wishing spell.” Dawn answered before rearing up on his hind legs, waving his forelegs at a nearby rosebush while making mock spell casting motions, “Ooh look at me! My name is Carn, and I can make berries float right off a bush” He sarcastically said before lowering his legs back down, staring at the bush he randomly picked. “Just some telekinesis mod that was hidden in that horn of yours, not even good enough for a parlor trick back where I‘m from.”
Carn gave him an irritated look, raising one eyebrow while the other furrowed. After deciding that arguing the point would be meaningless, he lost his face relaxed as he tried offering another solution, “Well, we could simply try asking around, maybe…” He made an abrupt turn towards the castle doors and slammed into a pegasus, knocking them both to the ground. “Hey!” Carn objected as he shook off the slight daze from the impact before standing upright. “Watch where you‘re going next time!”
The light blue pegasus, mostly covered in a black cloak with only his white snout and a pair of abnormally large light blue wings visible, was knocked onto his left side. He lifted his head from the ground, keeping it pointed towards Carn’s very light colored hooves and apologized from his current position without bothering to stand back up, “Sorry about that. I guess I was spacing a bit.” He then turned his concealed head away from the two companions as they proceeded back into the castle. He looked down the wide path that forked in opposite directions in the distance, seeing many ordinary carriages being packed with unicorns and earth ponies while a few pegasi were leaving by flight. “Looks like I missed her again.” He veered his head back at the two ponies as they just disappeared into the castle, “But if they‘re looking for her too, then it may be a good idea to tag along.” He rose to his hooves and followed them into the wondrous palace, the front half of his body hobbling under the cloak as he traveled back across the wooden bridge.
Dawn and Carn had returned to the mess that littered the grand halls, with many servant unicorns hard at work cleaning up the damaged statue and pillars. “Alright!” Dawn eagerly started. “You go to the dining hall and ask around there while I see if anypony here knows about our unicorn. Come find me when you know where she one lives.”
Carn gave him a disapproving look, “Sure, but you do know I‘m not your personal servant, right?”
“Yeah…” Dawn answered with smugness, “…but YOU need her too, am I right?” Carn only gave a low, annoyed grunt before leaving towards the dining hall to carry out his task. After watching his friend leave, Dawn went to work as well, asking the various ponies around the room for the identity and whereabouts of Celestia’s prized pupil. He asked every pony, only succeeding in getting puzzled looks accompanied by an ‘I have no clue where she lives’ or a ‘sorry, but I don’t know who she is’.
He glared at the luxurious red carpet as he headed to the dining room, mumbling under his breathe, “Ugh, I hope Carn‘s having more luck at this than I am.” He reached the dining area, where he saw the unicorn heading in his direction. Impatient to find out what he could uncover, Dawn rushed up to Carn, meeting him at the middle of a long table. “Well?”
“Yeah.” He answered, “Her name‘s Twilight Sparkle, and she lives in a small town called Ponyville.”
“Excellent!” Dawn nearly shouted. “Then off we go to Ponyville.” He raced out of the room, leaving Carn behind as he rolled his eyes and waited for Dawn to return. He saw the small pony come walking back with his head lowered to shoulder level as he glared back.
“Don‘t know where it is?” Carn humorously asked with a small smile.
“No…” Dawn raised his head with a smile, his eyes seeming to light up brighter than before, “… but that‘s why I have you with me!”
“Wrong.” Carn disagreed, replacing the smirk with an expression of slight annoyance while his voice rose, “The only reason why I‘m traveling with you is because you broke my horn doing whatever fancy experiment stranded you here. That, and the elixir that I‘m using isn‘t working fast enough.” They trotted outside, watching as the last carriages were preparing to leave. Carn‘s tone calmed back down to its normal level, “Besides, I don’t know where it is either, though it’s not exactly like it should be hard to find out.” Dawn pondered at their predicament, watching the carriages rolling out as well as some pegasi who were also leaving by flight, all traveling in different directions.
“If you two are looking for Ponyville…” Came a strangely familiar voice. Carn and Dawn both turned to the source, finding the pegasus that Carn had knocked to the ground earlier, still wearing his eerie cloak with its hood up to allow only his white mouth to show. He spoke with great confidence in his speech, adding a commanding presence to himself when he finished his statement, “…then you may need my help.”
Carn and Dawn exchanged confused looks before Carn began questioning the pegasus, “Why exactly would we need your help?”
“For starters I can tell that your short friend is very new to this area.”
“Hey!” Dawn protested, angered at the offensive comment.
The pegasus continued on as if Dawn hadn‘t said a word, “And you probably don‘t enjoy traveling that much, so you most likely want the shortest route possible, right?”
Carn suspiciously eyed the mysterious character, “And how exactly would you know that?”
“I could easily tell after overhearing your conversation. I‘d be willing to help you two out, but that comes with a few conditions.” As he spoke, the pegasus’ head moved about with the words, though the fact that this was the only movement was what made Carn suspicious.
“And that would be?” Dawn butted in, trying to sound authoritative.
“That you two allow me to join you on your travels and you explain why you want to talk to the unicorn.”
Carn and Dawn both turned away from the cloaked pony to discuss their options in private. Dawn immediately gave his disapproval, “No way.”
“Normally I‘d agree with you, but then again, where else are we going to find someone who knows how to get to Ponyville at this time? Not only that, but he‘s also going to bring us there himself, so there‘s really no risk of getting lost like on our way here.” As Carn voiced his opinion, the stranger jumped into the air, spending a few moments to clumsily propel himself high enough to perform an unexpectedly elegant barrel roll, causing the long piece of cloth to wrap around his body like a cocoon while keeping his wings free, after which he rose higher into the air. “I don’t know though, there’s something about him that’s just…”
“Abnormal? Bizarre? Weird?” The synonyms were named off by the stranger, who was now hovering over the ponies to better eavesdrop on their conversation. When Dawn and Carn glared up at his still well hidden face, he began an apology with his mouth smirking a bit. “Sorry, I‘ll just wait over there.” He flew back to where he once stood as Carn and Dawn watched. He did another barrel roll in the opposite direction, now releasing himself from his cloak as his hooves met the ground with a clop. In the flurry of flying fabric, something on the light blue body caught Dawn’s eye, but with only a moment of exposure, he wasn’t able to tell what it was.
After a short time of silence, Dawn very reluctantly agreed, “Fine, you can come with us, but we‘re not taking you if you‘re gonna wear that.” He pointed a hoof at the concealing apparel for a second before returning it back to the ground, “And you may as well tell us about yourself too. I prefer to know who I‘m traveling with, after all.”
“Fine then.” The pony agreed, “Do you two already have a place to stay for the night?”
The two travelers took a quick glance at each other before Carn answered, “No. Did you have anywhere in mind?”
The new addition turned his head southwest, facing the same direction as the castle was, “I‘ve got a small place on the ground nearby. It‘s a little worse for wear since my main home is actually a cloud hut, but it’s much closer and you won‘t have to worry about falling through the floor!” Dawn chuckled at his last comment while Carn only continued to give him an angry stare. The cloak flapped lightly when the pegasus began walking down the road with the front of his body resuming its uneven movement while Dawn and Carn followed at a distance.
High above the group, a thin purple and black fog flew through the sky and stopped above the group as a small red light on Dawn’s left cufflink began blinking rapidly, drawing only Carn’s attention to it since the pegasus was walking ahead of them. Carn leaned closer and whispered, “What is that?”
Dawn looked down at the excited light and whispered back, “It‘s just Sara signaling me to say that she‘s detected some kind of anomaly.”
“Aren‘t you going to ask what it was?”
Dawn turned the light off by pressing down on it with his right hoof before giving his answer, “You kidding? Ever since I came to your world, she‘s been nagging me about anomalies left and right. For all I know, it could have been some kind of dust bunny.”
“Speaking of which, where did you even leave it?”
“SHE…” Dawn emphasized to ensure that Carn knew he was being corrected, “…can take care of herself, but if we‘re gonna be heading out in the morning, then I may as well tell her to meet us at…” He stopped, now noticing that they hadn’t even gotten their new companion’s name yet. He raised his voice enough to call to the pegasus, “By the way, we never got your name.”
The pegasus gave his answer while continuing on, “My name is Stratus, but everyone just shortens it to Strat.”
Dawn lowered his head to his wrist and softly spoke, “Track me and meet us whenever we stop, got it?” The light on his wrist blinked green three times as if in answer.
“Does that mean it…” Carn quickly corrected himself, “…she …understands?”
“Yeah, she‘ll probably head out now and meet up with me a few hours after we get there.”
The hovering vapor lowered its altitude and kept pace behind the group as the path switched from the neatly kept royal avenue to a more common street with small trees lined up on each side. The translucent fog used the branches and shadows for camouflage, following the group for a short distance until a deep, monstrous voice quietly spoke, “Ah, and so the first half finally begin their journey.” The sentient cloud waited until the trio was well down the road before rising from the tree he was currently hiding himself in. He took off quickly towards the castle, aiming for the highest tower where a lone window was still lit.
Dawn kept his eye on the pegasus’ strange walking pattern, watching the cloak bobbing as he walked. After several minutes of uneventful traveling, Dawn finally spoke up, with obvious annoyance in his speech, “Ok, I‘m really gonna have to ask you to take that thing off.” The pegasus stopped in his tracks, then his head picked up as he noticed he was still wearing the heavy garment.
“Oh…” He began with a mildly surprised tone in his voice, “…right, I forgot I was still wearing it.” He bit a piece near his left shoulder and quickly pulled it off, unveiling the body of a well built, light blue pegasus. His mixed light-grey and white mane was very short and kept up to the base of his head, with the exception of a long lock of hair that hung down over his face. His similarly colored tail was long, neatly combed and straight, unhindered by any kind of ties or ribbon as a spiraling cloud pattern with bolts of yellow lightening shaped his cutie mark. The two also noticed that nothing but a jagged edge made up his left ear. His mouth faded to white from the blue while a solid, diamond-shaped patch of white fur adorned his forehead. Finally, Dawn and Carn discovered the source of his uneven walking pattern; for when he threw his cloak over his back, he revealed that his left front leg was gone entirely, with a large, slanted scar stretching down from his shoulder across his ribcage in its place.
Dawn and Carn stared, wide-eyed and open mouthed at the mutilation, keeping silent until Strat looked at them with his coral eyes, a slight glare on his face as he spoke, “Better?”
“Uh… how‘d you…” Dawn struggled to speak, feeling uncomfortable at the mere thought of the question.
Strat knew what he was going to ask, as he looked down at the scars and answered, “It was a construction accident that happened a while ago.” He turned around
and continued down the path, the spring in his steps causing the lump of cloth on his back to move up and down as well. After a few more seconds of staring, Carn nudged Dawn, catching his attention and signaling him to continue down the road.
The awkward silence lasted only a few short minutes until Dawn remembered the second part of their deal. “You also said you’d tell us about yourself too, you know.”
Strat continued walking without giving them his visual attention while he spoke, “I kind of thought we could save that until tomorrow for the long trip, but I guess I can tell you a little bit about myself now.” He fell silent as his head pointed to the skies, “There‘s not really much to say, or at least nothing that doesn‘t need a lot of explanation to it. I guess I‘ll start off with a bit of my past. My first career path was a shop manager down in Fillydelphia. It was just a furniture store that mostly sold beds, couches, chairs, and dining tables. After that I went into a little bit of construction work, and just to shed a little more light on the subject…” His head came back down as his left shoulder moved up and down, bringing their attention to the legless area. “…this happened when an oxy-fuel station somehow exploded. Kind of amazed I lived through that actually.” He now turned his head back to his followers, “Is that enough for now? I‘d go on a little more, but we‘re pretty close to my home.”
“I just have one last thing.” Dawn dully said with a yawn, the late night now getting to him as they came upon a small neighborhood, “Why were you wearing that cloak anyway?”
Strat led them down the streets, passing the very similar houses as he answered, “Oh, just because I kinda hate when people ask about my little accident. Usually when people find out about this, they treat me like a cripple when I‘m not.” He led them to a particular house, a one story building looking rather unremarkable in comparison to the its neighbors. Strat approached the front door and reared up on his hind legs, allowing his only front hoof to open the door. It swung open to reveal an inside almost as bland as the outside, with a plain white hall, absent of any kind of decoration with hardwood flooring. They entered the hallway, now seeing two doors on the left, one on the right, and the end opened up into a dining room with only a wooden table on tiled floor in sight.
“I‘ve only got two beds, but you can take‘em since you‘re my guests. I‘ll just sleep on the couch tonight.”
“Are you sure?” Dawn asked.
“Yeah, they‘re the doors on the left.” As he walked down the hall into the dining room, he called back a bit louder to be sure they heard him, “By the way, when did you want to leave for…. what was the town called?”
“Ponyville, and I guess whenever you‘re ready.” Carn answered as Dawn entered the first room, finding an average sized bed with a small window.
“Good, then we‘ll leave at seven.” He glimpsed back, eyeing the small bits of sweet food scattered over Dawn while they were both still somewhat damp with punch. “The shower‘s the door on the right.”
When he crossed the dining room in the opposite direction, Carn examined his now mostly dried cape and bowtie, “Well, I guess I‘ll wash up real quick then get to bed.”
“Alright, I‘ll just wait ‘til you’re done.” Dawn said as he opened the first door to a small room containing a single bed and a small, white dresser. Its frame looked only large enough for an adolescent pony, but it was at least big enough for him to use. He walked across the grayish, incredibly soft carpet to a window that offered a view of the front yard and street. After passing his eyes over the street lamps that lit the path, Dawn went back to shut the door while the faint smell of cinnamon wafted through the air. He then took off the tuxedo shirt, throwing it to the floor and digging the cufflink off with his teeth, placing it on the windowsill to whisper to it again, “Alright, now‘s as good a time as any. Come by ground, we don‘t want to take any unnecessary risk of anyone seeing you, got it?” The cufflink blinked green three times in confirmation.
***
The black and purple smoke flew through the air towards the tower at incredible speed. When it reached the window, it conformed itself to the border, keeping itself perfectly hidden from anypony inside. A strand of it peered in with an eyeless gaze, seeing Princess Celestia removing her jeweled necklace while Luna had just come through the door. “Sister! How well have I accomplished my task!?” She asked with great enthusiasm in her ancient tone. The smoke shot back into its hiding place when Celestia turned toward the window, approaching it to marvel at the stars above.
“You did a wonderful job Luna!” She happily informed her sister, turning back to give her a warm smile. Luna returned her sister’s smile with one of her own before she went to her bed, laying down while magically placing her small crown on the nightstand.
“I am very grateful that you approve! I had much joy in performing my past duties once more!” She scanned around the luxurious room, eyeing the many small knickknacks that her big sister kept, her curiosity growing more and more after passing over each seemingly worthless bauble. “Sister…” Luna paused, keeping her eyes on the picture of Twilight and her friends, “….what events transpired whilst I was away?”
“Nothing much.” Celestia answered as she continued removing her jewelry, “Just generation after generation of wonderful ponies living in happiness.” The smoke crept in through the window while both ponies had their attention on other things. It slinked across the floor and into Celestia’s bed, melding with its blanket. “I also got to meet a very old friend again while you were gone.”
“Of whom do you speakest of, dear sister?” Luna eagerly asked, turning back to her sister.
“Oh, you‘ll meet him soon.” The princess answered with a light giggle in her voice as the blanket came to life. It rose from the bed with small puffs of black and purple haze occasionally shooting from the stitches as it headed for the princess.
When Luna saw the blanket creeping up on Celestia, She jumped off her bed and yelled, “Celestia!” But it was too late; the blanket shot for the white alicorn and wrapped her within itself, covering her torso and wings in a cocoon of bedspread. Luna’s horn began glowing with a dark blue aura as she reared back, “Sister! I’ll protect… thee?” She questioningly ended, gently landing back down on her front hooves after seeing her sister look down at the blanket, lightly laughing at it as she smiled calmly.
She watched in confusion as Celestia spoke to the cloth binding her, “Alright Opaque, you can let me go now.”
The monstrous voice spoke from the blanket, “Aw, you don‘t like my surprise hugs anymore?” The bedspread released its owner, neatly replacing itself on the bed before the smoke rose from it.
“Of course I do! You know I always love when you visit.”
“Always?” The fog asked with his ominous voice as he began shaping into a faceless unicorn shape, maintaining his smoky texture with only a pair of malevolent, glowing green eyes absent of pupils. When the princess looked away with a depressed expression, the being spoke, “Didn‘t think so.” After Celestia didn’t return her eyes to the creature, he reached out with a spectral hoof and gently eased her chin towards him, “Nonetheless my princess, I‘m always delighted to see one of my dearest friends.” This caused Celestia’s smile to return, though her eyes still held a bit of sadness in them.
“Celestia, who is this that trespasses within our private quarters?!” Luna demanded, still confused as to whether she should prepare to fight this creature.
The smoke turned its green eyes to the younger sibling and shot towards her, losing his shape for just a moment before reforming right in front of the younger alicorn, startling her into taking a few steps back. “Please forgive my rather rude entry, and without even a proper introduction too.” He cleared his nonexistent throat and held out a phantasmal hoof, “My name is Opaque, and I must say that it’s a pleasure to finally meet you Princess Luna.” After she didn’t accept his greeting, he returned his hoof to the floor.
“As for what I am…” The gaseous creature‘s deep voice rose to a pitch that was normal for a male pony, “…I‘m simply a shape-shifting master of deception.”
“Then tell me, when did you and my sister…”
Princess Celestia was quick to cut her off, bringing their attention to her as she explained the meaning of his presence, “He is a good friend I met before you were trapped in the moon, and as you can see, he‘s very talented in illusion magic.” Luna was still puzzled at this new arrival, with a face that displayed both confusion and surprise from the demonstration. After seeing this, the princess further explained, “He usually visits to inform me when something very important is going to happen.”
“What manner of importance do you mean?” Luna asked, bringing her eyes back to the smoky character.
Opaque answered for her, “Like the rediscovery of the elements of harmony, Discord spreading his rather comedic chaos, when you became the dreaded Nightmare Moon…”
“What!?” Celestia’s little sister exclaimed.
Celestia looked away once more with the saddened expression returning as Opaque recollected the horrible past as if it were an average, everyday event, “Oh yes! I knew that you were going to become the mare in the moon, and so I had to inform the princess on the proper steps to take in order to seal you away.”
“So thou knew what was going to transpire and failed to even make an attempt to prevent it?” Luna’s tone grew angry at this new information.
“Quite the contrary…” Opaque happily continued, instantly forcing the anger to leave Luna as her eyes widened in shock, “…I actually aided in your becoming Nightmare Moon. You see…” Opaque walked with soundless footsteps to the shelves that held the small items, scanning over them until a strand of mist left his horn to pick up a light blue gem in the shape of a crescent moon that lay hidden inside a small box. He then conformed himself, taking a solid state to form a perfect replica of Nightmare Moon as the gem set itself within the breastplate. When he spoke, his voice matched the once dreaded antagonist, “…I told her that the fate of not one, but two worlds relied upon you becoming the terror you once were.”
Luna stared in awe at his ability to impersonate the wicked mare, but her eyes fell to the gem he took from the shelf, enticing her to ask, “What is that item in thy possession?”
As the imposter Nightmare Moon explained, the gem started giving off a faint glow, “This little item in particular has a very special ability in its original world.” The villain disappeared as Opaque returned to his original appearance, holding the gem in an outstretched limb of gas to allow her to examine it. When he spoke, his voice also returned to its normal sounding tone, “Unfortunately, your world is greatly altering it‘s intended effects, causing it to multiply the envy in your heart two-hundred fold.”
Luna gazed into the beautifully crafted gem, seeing the same craters that the actual moon bore, “Then explain how it was placed in my royal attire. Also, if it belongs to another world, why is it in ours?”
“Oh, it wasn’t exactly that difficult. I simply slipped in as I often do while no one’s paying attention and I swapped it out with the plain old diamond that was in the socket.” Opaque began his explanation as he looked deeply into the gem, keeping his eyes on their reflection on the gem’s surface. “I also have an ability to freely travel between worlds, that is, so long as I am supposed to. Thus, I use that ability to transfer required items, materials, et cetera to where, and in some cases when, I need them to be”
Opaque brought the gem up to his chest, stuffing it in and concealing it within his own body before resuming his explanation, “You see Luna, magic operates on countless… levels, so to speak.” As he spoke, one of his gaseous forelegs moved about, waving slightly as he clarified, “Bringing a magical item from one magical world to another is very dangerous. Let‘s take the Lunar Stone for example, the magic from your world is greatly interfering with its original functions. Without the magical interference, it would normally absorb moonlight and convert it into a continuous empowering aura.” As he spoke, a small ball of gas split off from him and began hovering next to his head, “It‘s not the same with every magic item, most of the time it‘s fairly random. However, some items like the elements of harmony contain enough power to suffer very minor interference, if any at all that is.”
Luna thought over the vast amount of information, causing many questions to fill her head. As her private thoughts continued, the ball fired itself out the window, startling her into asking out loud, “What was that?”
“That was just a little piece of myself that I sent to take care of another task that need not concern us at the moment. Now then…” He turned his attention to Celestia before continuing, “…there‘s very little you‘ll need to do, it‘s mostly the new set that will save the two worlds.”
“What exactly is meant by that?” Luna questioned after being reminded of his original task, still skeptical of her sister’s ally.
Opaque turned back to her, his eyes narrowing as his voice hardened, “Another world, very similar to yours, is in grave danger of being overtaken by a very powerful entity. They will need to harness the elements of harmony in order to put it to rest. Phase one was successfully completed with you, Luna. Now phase two is about to commence, and I dare say that this one will be far more challenging, though luckily it won‘t need nearly as much time.”
“Is that what you‘ve come to inform me about?” Celestia asked, her tone changing to such seriousness that Luna had never heard before.
“Of course!” He elegantly said, walking up to the princess.
“Very well then, show me the other six you spoke of.”
Somehow, the smoke formed a smile, with sharp, white teeth inside a mouth that floated in the general area where it would be had Opaque been solid. It disappeared when a massive amount of smoke left his hooves that engulfed everything in the room, leaving the three in a black void. His intangible horn fired a beam of yellow light into the unseen floor, carving a perfect circle. “You may want to see this as well Luna, it will answer some other questions you’ll have.” Luna cautiously approached as the circle began rising, not as a platform, but like a bubble being blown in from the bottom. The large clear orb finished forming and floated in the air in the middle of the three, it‘s border glowing a dim grey.
“Now, which one should we start with?” He asked himself as the bubble began glowing with multiple colors filling it.
***
The apple-shaped carriage rolled over the small hills and through the thick shadows until it slowed to a stop under a street light in the seemingly empty Ponyville. As the occupants filed out of the vehicle, the small purple and black wisp shot through the air, stopping just above the street light. The smoke conformed to the top of the street light and extended a small strand over to watch the group.
The gathering of friends filled the block with the sounds of joyous laughter until Shamrock spoke up, “Hey! Mind untying us from this thing?”
“I’m on it!” Spike exclaimed, but Twilight put a foreleg in front of him, blocking his path.
“Not to worry Spike, I’ll handle this.” She brought her leg back down and charged her horn. After a few seconds of building the magic up, a gust of wind picked up and began encircling their transport while also blowing the wisp out of its hiding place, forcing it to quickly encircle itself on the pole to ensure it couldn’t be seen. The haulage contracted into a much smaller shape until it returned to its original size, whereupon it changed back to an ordinary apple.
The apple remained for only a moment before Pinkie snatched it up and gobbled it down. “Mmm!” She exclaimed with a mouthful of fruit. She complimented the taste after swallowing, “I didn’t know that carriage apples tasted so delicious!”
After the two stretched a bit, Caramel expressed his appreciation to Twilight, giving her a cheerful smile, “Thanks for that. I guess we’ll see you tomorrow.”
As the group said farewell to Rarity’s neighbors, the puff descended half-way down the pole, being careful to stay just out of view while also keeping its eyeless sight on its targets. Opaque thought as he controlled his extension, <…which one is…> He ran his vision over each mare until he saw Twilight. He exclaimed within his thoughts. When he shot down into the bushes planted at the base of the pole, Twilight eyed a sudden burst of movement.
She hummed out of curiosity as she turned towards the bushes, giving them a look of suspicion. Pinkie saw Twilight’s sudden concentration and watched her as she seemed to be sneaking up on a particular shrub. She saw that Twilight wasn’t very good at stealth, so she thought she could show her an example. While everyone else was saying farewell, Pinkie crouched really low and easily crept behind the line of brush.
Twilight lowered her head, trying to look in between the leaves and small twigs to see what had caused the quick, eye-catching movement that she had spotted earlier. She lowered her head even more and extended it to just where her nose was about to touch the leaves, but before she went any further, Pinkie sprang up and shouted, “SURPRISE!”
“WAAH!” Twilight cried as she jumped back in a defensive stance. Applejack and Fluttershy rushed to her side as Pinkie jumped over the brush. “Pinkie?! What are you doing!?”
“Yeah.” Applejack said upon discovering the source of the sudden excitement. She lowered her guard seeing as there was no threat to defend against, “Ya’ll got me fired up for nuthin’.”
Pinkie saw their concern and rushed to an apology, “I’m sorry, I just thought I could show Twilight how to sneak up on bushes.” After raising an eyebrow out of confusion, Twilight remembered what she was previously doing and rushed passed Pinkie to look into the brush, but there was nothing but broken twigs and dead leaves littering the area within.
Pinkie, Applejack, and Fluttershy all traded confused glances until Fluttershy asked, “Um, are you looking for something Twilight?”
After searching the neighboring plants, Twilight let out a sigh and answered back as she retreated from the line of brush, “I thought I saw something in the bushes just a moment ago.”
Applejack looked up to the starry sky, “It’s a little late t’be chasin’ spooks there Twilight.” She brought her head back down and smiled at her, “Yer prob’ly jus’ tired is all.”
Twilight saw Applejack’s smile and returned with one of her own. She let out a yawn before replying, “I guess you’re right, I’m probably just seeing things.”
“Well then, I guess me an’ Fluttershah’ll head on home, seein’ as how Rainbow Dash and Rarity got a head start on us.”
Twilight looked around the immediate area, only now noticing that Dash and Rarity were absent. She let out another yawn, the late night now affecting her even more as she made an attempt to continue their conversation, “Actually, Bed isn’t sounding like a bad idea. In fact, has anyone seen Spike?”
“Uh… Twah’light?” Applejack questioningly said. After catching Twilight’s attention, she gave her another smile before pointing at her. Twilight turned her head to see that Spike was already fast asleep on her back. “Looks like he managed t’ tucker himself out all on his own.”
Twilight giggled lightly at her draconic companion until a thought entered her mind. She thought back to the gala and remembered that Spike had wanted to spend some quality time with them all. After recalling the very short period they actually spent with him, she started feeling guilty, driving the smile from her face.
Fluttershy saw the obvious change in her mood and questioned her about it, “Is something bothering you Twilight?” After she didn’t respond, Fluttershy took a step closer and tried once more, “Twilight?”
Twilight snapped out of the somewhat trance-like state, shaking her head as she realized that she hadn’t been paying attention. She laughed nervously and quietly, doing her best to keep from waking her snoozing hatchling, “Sorry about that, I guess I’m a little more tired than I thought.”
“That’s ok…” Pinkie said as she gave her dreary friend a great smile, “…I’ll walk home with you!”
Twilight chuckled at her, “That’s alright Pinkie, it’s not that far of a walk.”
“Why not?” Pinkie asked without losing her immensely joyous expression, “It’s on the way to Sugar Cube Corner anyway.”
Twilight saw her point and decided to take her up on her offer, “I guess it would be ok. Just please try not to wake Spike on our way there.”
“Ok.” Pinkie whispered playfully as she and Twilight turned to face the pathway home.
“See ya’ll t’morrow” Applejack called after them before she accompanied Fluttershy on their way home in the opposite direction.
“Good bye” Twilight and Pinkie replied before heading down the path, walking under the light of several light posts. As they traveled, Pinkie glanced over at Twilight a few times, seeing her repeatedly dozing off only to shake her head to keep awake.
“Why are you so tired Twilight?” Pinkie inquired, giving the unicorn a look of concern.
“I don’t…” Twilight paused to let out a wide-mouthed yawn, “…I don’t really know. I guess the gala took more out of me than I thought.”
“Well, I’m sure a good night’s sleep will put it right back in you!” Pinkie tried lightening the mood, but to no avail as Twilight let out another yawn. She was going to make another attempt, but they had just turned the corner and were now approaching the library.
They stopped a few feet from the front door as Twilight used magic to open it, stopping just before going in to say farewell to her escort, “Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow Pinkie.”
“Ok.” Pinkie said, her tone deepening to slight depression. Just before the door shut, she perked up and tried to get Twilight’s attention one last time. “Twilight!” She was too late as the door clicked shut. She heard Twilight’s muffled voice coming from within, but she couldn’t understand it. She let out a sigh and lowered her head as she said under her breathe, “Bye Twilight.”
The once excited mare turned around and began walking down the dark path, sullen now that she was alone. This feeling only lasted a few moments when the library door opened again and Twilight’s voice sounded from the doorway, “Sorry about that, I was just putting Spike to bed. What did you need Pinkie?”
Pinkie Pie turned back and saw Twilight standing in the dark doorway with a small candle in its holder floating near her shoulder. She smiled and proceeded with a question, “I was just wondering what we were gonna do tomorrow?”
Twilight let out a weak laugh before turning her head back to the doorway, where the moonlight illuminated the tip of Spike’s wicker bed on the loft as the blanket slowly expanded and contracted from its occupant’s breathing. “Well…” She finally said, “…I have a little something in mind.”
“OOH!” Pinkie Pie nearly shouted, causing Twilight to shush her. She noticed the large increase in her volume and instantly brought her hooves to her mouth. After regaining control of her excitement, she rushed to ask, “What is it?!”
Twilight looked up to the night sky, taking in the beauty of the stars as her mind once more wandered into space, or sleep, she couldn’t really tell the difference at the moment. Before she dozed off again, she gave her eager friend an answer, “I’ll talk to you about it tomorrow, but right now, I think we should both get to bed.”
“Ok Twilight! I can’t wait to hear about your idea tomorrow.” She turned back to the dark path pointing towards Sugar Cube Corner just down the street and began running down the road, calling back to Twilight one last time, “Good night Twilight!”
“Good night Pinkie Pie!” Twilight said into the shade as the over-excited pony dashed off into the night, her dark silhouette reforming and disappearing as she ran under the lit sections of the road. The door shut with a light thud as the tired unicorn used her magic to remove her dress, placing it on a hanger in her closet. She double checked Spike’s bed to see if he had woken up, but he continued snoozing as soundly as ever. Twilight crawled into bed, set the candle on the nightstand, and blew it out.
The smoke now came out of its hiding place from within the closet, removing itself from the dress’ collar and slithering through the air towards the sleeping character as she lightly snored, though it was nothing compared to the noisy dragon. “Now, dear Twilight, it’s time for you to receive your instructions.” Opaque’s extension surrounded Twilight’s head, synchronizing itself with her slumbering thoughts as she slept.
Once their thoughts were perfectly harmonized, Opaque saw the royal gardens back at the palace as Twilight and Princess Celestia walked down the cobblestone path. He chuckled lightly as he took his pony form, only this time solidifying into a completely black pony with a dark purple mane that had been sleeked back, a matching tail that was left long and flowing, and green eyes, once more without pupils. For the moment, he hid himself within the bushes, watching as the couple traversed the preset paths. They spoke to each other, but from the distance, they were unintelligible.
“Hmm.” Opaque hummed, smiling as he spoke to himself, “I’ve been wondering how fast you can think on your hooves. I guess now’s my chance to see how good you really are.” His form melted into a puddle and began bubbling like tar, but it seemed to be having some trouble proceeding with its transformation. “Wow, I guess I’m a little out of practice.” The bubbling stopped momentarily as he spoke to himself, “Alright, let’s give this another try.” He gave a grunt and his puddled form began growing massively in size as he roared in counterfeit fury.
Twilight saw the obvious danger and jumped in front of the princess, “Celestia! What in Equestria is that!?”
“I don’t know!” The princess answered, staring up at the irregular form as it shaped two sloppy appendages from its body. It swung a limb down on the two ponies, landing in between them and successfully separating them.
“Princess!” Twilight called as the substance rose into the air. She saw that the princess had been mostly covered in whatever the black substance was, also noticing that it was engulfing her mentor. She thought quickly, using her telekinesis spell to control a small stream of water, redirecting it through the air and greatly increasing its pressure until it impacted the substance with great force. She channeled the spell for several moments, but released it after seeing that it had such little effect.
The monster roared again, redirecting Twilight’s attention to the arm as it now came down on her. She gasped and instinctively activated a shield spell just in time. When the goo hit the barrier, it completely engulfed it, taking away all light within. Twilight’s breathing hastened as she tried thinking of what was going on, and how to stop whatever it was that was attacking them. The ground began rumbling and the darkness passed when the arm ascended again into the air, leaving behind large puddles of itself on the shield and ground.
She looked back towards Princess Celestia and only now noticed something strange. The substance had now completely covered her teacher, with the exception of her cutie mark. She thought, She stopped, the princess didn’t know what this creature was, and yet she was so easily captured by it. She finally realized. She looked over to the large mound that brought both limbs high into the air in preparation for another strike.
“And that means…” Twilight turned back to the monster with a confident battle glare. She began using her magic once again, glowing brightly as the arms came down, directly hitting her and making a large indention into the ground. The attack proved to have absolutely no effect on Twilight as she rose up through the goo, with it slipping off of her like water. The monster recoiled, confused at her newfound power as her entire body glowed with her signature purple aura. The tip of her horn started sparking madly as she now glowed with bright yellow light.
The monster was stunned by the light emitted from her body, forcing a shriek to fill the air as it vibrated from pain. The night sky then began disappearing as red filled the sky, shortly changing to yellow and then blue as the sun rapidly rose through the air, further damaging the creature. It gave one final cry of pain before it started cracking, solidifying from the light from both the sun and Twilight. After a few seconds, it was completely solid with several large cracks running down its dull, uneven sides. Twilight stopped glowing as the sun reached the highest point in the sky, lowering back to the ground where Princess Celestia was still covered.
With newfound and ultimate confidence, Twilight charged another spell, “Don’t worry princess, you’ll be free in no time.” She fired a beam from her horn, causing the engulfing material to explode like glass, but the princess was nowhere to be found.
“What in the…” Twilight started, looking around to see if she had destroyed the wrong mound, but no other was in sight.
“Excellent work Twilight!” A voice spoke from the monster. Twilight quickly turned back, ready for another strike as the monster’s cracks grew larger and it began breaking, falling into a hollow center until only a black unicorn stood in the center of the debris. He stepped toward her with confident hoof-steps, speaking through a set of sharp white teeth, “Not exactly what I had in mind, but impressive nonetheless.”
“Who are you?” Twilight questioned the stranger, keeping her defenses up, “I don’t remember meeting anyone like you.”
“Oh no, we’ve never met before. As a matter of fact, this is the first time anyone other than royalty has seen me, or at least the first time in a little while.” He stopped just at the edge of the rubble, giving her plenty of room so as not to feel threatened.
Twilight eyed this new personality suspiciously, “Who are you then?”
“For the moment, that’s irrelevant.” Her look of suspicion didn’t faze him as he approached, “What DOES matter is the fact that you have beaten me in a dream battle and you have successfully earned a prize.”
“What kind of prize?” Twilight asked, keeping her eyes on his, confused as to why they were completely green.
“The best kind of course! Well… at least in your case. You’ve won information that will help you carry out a much larger plan.”
“What kind of plan? And why exactly should I trust you?” Her suspicion persisted as she eyed the fierce teeth and sinister looking eyes. “You don’t exactly have the most trustworthy face I’ve seen.”
“Well, whether or not you trust me is irrelevant. What IS relevant is that you follow these directions to do what is needed.”
Twilight thought of the mysteriousness of this pony, very unsure as to whether or not she should actually believe the information he gave her. After a few moments of contemplating her options, she spoke in a very serious tone, “What exactly do I need to do?”
Opaque smiled with his mouthful of fangs, and though it didn’t look like it was purposely hostile in any way, Twilight still didn’t trust him. “It’s very simple really. I have a few ponies who need to form their own bonds of friendship at least as strong as yours.”
“Well, that doesn’t sound too difficult.” Twilight’s voice sounded more relaxed as she was relieved that he didn’t have some kind of epic quest in mind. When he snickered a bit, she lost her relaxed composure and questioned him, “Why are you laughing?”
“Oh…” He started, lowering his head for a few seconds to shake it lightly. He raised it back up and pressed on with a humorous smile, “…just the fact that you think this will be a cakewalk.” His comedic mood disappeared as he gave her a serious look, glaring his glowing eyes slightly, “But no, this new group will have some problem areas and it’s of utmost importance that they unify.”
“Why is this so important to you?” Twilight’s curiosity compelled her to ask.
“Hmph.” Opaque huffed, as if he were aggravated by her question. “Unfortunately, that particular bit of information is off limits to you.”
Twilight then thought of a way to extract the information from him. “What happens if I don’t do this for you?”
The green eyes glared even more, with Opaque’s anger becoming obvious in his change of tone, “Don’t test me Twilight Sparkle. I can do far more than you think.”
“Like what exactly?” She challenged him with a smirk on her face. “As far as I know, you’re just another illusion”
“Twilight…” He spoke again, his fury increasing as his outline began reverting back to its original smog.
“You see?” She said with reassured confidence, “You’re just another figment of my imagination.”
Opaque didn’t need to look at himself to know what was happening. He quickly called back to her, “Very well then, Miss Sparkle. If you really want to test my capabilities, then I’ll give you but a taste of what I can do.”
“Oh really?” Twilight asked as she concentrated on purging him from her thoughts. “What exactly are you going to do? Give me nightmares?”
She casually laughed at the intruder until the smoke he gave off erupted into a storm, consuming and destroying everything around them, greatly startling Twilight out of her confident state of mind. As the scene was being deconstructed, he whispered across to her as his form slowly disintegrated, though his voice sounded as if her were softly speaking right into her ear, “Oh, I’ve got a far better idea. Let’s see exactly how well you fare when you regain the popularity you once had back in Canterlot.”
“When I… what?” Twilight stated in great confusion at what was no more than a pair of green eyes and a floating mouth, now with a clearly sinister smile. Time began rewinding itself, reversing the entire battle up until the point where Twilight and Princess Celestia were calmly walking down the garden paths under the night sky.
She panicked and jumped in front of the princess as she did when the battle started even though no threat was present. “Twilight!? What in Equestria are you doing?” The princess asked. Twilight scanned the area, searching for either the large monster or the intruder, but neither one was present. She continuously searched to be sure that they were now the only two in her dream. “Twilight, is there something wrong?” The false princess persisted.
The worried unicorn thought on her unwelcome guest’s last words, She pondered the words, paying the princess no mind. After a few more moments spent on the riddling phrase, she disregarded it as nothing more than a bad dream, “It’s nothing Princess Celestia.” She said, turning back to the illusion of her mentor. “What was that you were saying?”
***
Pinkie Pie was nearing home in only a very short amount of time as she bounded down the road. She excitedly thought to herself. Once she made it to the front door of her bakery home, she made an attempt to calm herself down long enough to not wake Mr. and Mrs. Cake, who were no doubt asleep by now. She gently opened the door and peered inside, seeing the interior of the first floor filled with darkness, making it very hard to see. She proceeded inside and gently shut the door behind her before feeling along the wall for the light switch.
Her hoof stumbled upon it and flipped it on, flooding the room with light. Pinkie carefully walked upstairs, peering around the corner to see the door to the master bedroom completely shut, with the sounds of comfortable slumber emanating from within. The sneaky mare found it ironic that she, known for being one of Ponyville’s loudest residents, was now trying to be as quiet as possible. She tip-hoofed across the wooden floor without so much as a creak sounding from the hardwood floor as she silently traversed across. When she got just in front of the bedroom door, she heard a sudden snort, causing her to freeze in position, her face showing an expression of shock as she stood on the tips of two hooves. The door slowly swung open and in the shadows stood Mr. Cake, wearing his many-striped light-blue and white pajama shirt and matching night cap.
He let out a wide-mouthed yawn as he pushed Pinkie out of his way, causing her to pivot on her back hoof until he reached the bathroom just across the hall. Pinkie stood still as a statue as she automatically pivoted back into place and slowly came to a stop as if she were a double-hinged door. The bathroom door shut before its border lit up for only about ten seconds as the water faucet turned on and several over exaggerated gulps were heard, closely followed by a relaxed sigh. The frame darkened and the door opened again as Mr. Cake left the bathroom, pushing through Pinkie and causing her to repeat her comedic pivoting.
The door shut and Pinkie unfroze, lowering her other two hooves to the ground. She wiped the nervous sweat off her forehead with a relieved whisper, “Whew! That was a close one.”
“Good night Pinkie Pie.” Mr. Cake’s tired voice came from just beyond the door.
Pinkie looked back at the door, surprised that he was actually awake when he pushed his way right through her. She gave him a nervously quiet giggle, “Hehe… good night Mr. Cake!” The rest of the trip was still conducted in silence so that at least Mrs. Cake wouldn’t be woken up. Upon reaching her room, Pinkie shut the door and turned back to her bed to see Gummy sleeping peacefully in the middle of the pink blanket while he made his buzzing snore.
“Aww.” The adoring sound escaped her mouth, though luckily it wasn’t loud enough to wake the snoozing gator. Pinkie jumped right out of her gala dress, leaving it where it was as if she were still wearing it as the hat floated about a foot or so above the collar. She landed on the bed, bouncing Gummy up into the air and landing right next to her as she curled up under the blanket. “Good night Gummy! I’ve got a really good feeling about tomorrow!” The docile reptile responded the way it almost always did by painlessly biting her foreleg and clamping on in his sub consciousness.
The purple and black fumes flew through the air towards the second story window that led into Pinkie’s room. Opaque’s voice spoke quietly aloud to himself once more, “Well, that last stop went over flawlessly, though she was able to desynchronize me far too easily. I’ll have to polish my dream manipulating skills later.” The small cloud looked into the window and discovered that the pink mare was already fast asleep. He hummed to himself as his demonic green eyes now opened up.
They scanned the area for an easy opening, quickly finding the purple chimney decorated with faux icing. He headed for the top, cautiously looking around the streets and other building windows just in case somepony may have been looking in his direction. Once he reached the opening of the chimney, he slipped right in, gliding down the middle without knocking any soot from the inner walls. Upon reaching the bottom, Opaque found that the chimney lead to an oven with the door left open and the lights on. “And of course Mr. Cake left this thing open again, but Pinkie leaving the lights on is a new one.” Opaque said to himself as he entered the kitchen. His form flew under the door and pushed it closed with a squeak coming from the hinges. “I guess I could do them both a favor since this helped me out a bit… and it really couldn’t hurt anything.”
Before hitting the light switch, he looked around for the stairs, easily finding them in the light. A strand reached for the light switch and flicked it downward, draining the light from the room before he made his way upstairs and straight for Pinkie’s room. He effortlessly slipped under the door and rose into the air to see his target snuggling with her scaly pet. Opaque encompassed her head as he did with Twilight’s as he continued talking to himself. “I’ve got a favor to ask of you, my ecstatic friend…” He began synchronizing their thoughts, finishing his statement just before completing the process, “…and you’re going to have to make a choice you may not agree with.”
It was finished. Opaque had once again successfully bound himself to Pinkie’s dreams and they were now coming into his view. The scene was a wide green meadow bathing in the sun’s light with hundreds of flowers made of different kinds of candy. The stems all seemed to be made of some twirling green licorice, the petals were candy corn in different colors, and the centers were gumdrops. Opaque shook the part that held his eyes from the humor of the expectancy, “Why am I not surprised?” He looked over the candy plains, but the owner of the dream world was nowhere to be found. “That’s odd…” He said after not finding any hiding spots big enough to hide her.
“Duh nuh…” Pinkie’s voice sounded as her pink hair came up from the grass behind Opaque for only a moment before diving back down again. Opaque turned to the source, but found nothing but more candied grass and flowers. “Duh nuh, duh nuh.” Her voice came again as her hair reappeared and disappeared as if it were the dorsal fin of a fish swimming just below the surface of water.
The green eyes leered in anticipation, “I see how it is…” He took a moment to look around in a seemingly vain attempt to spot his hunter, “…I guess I’m up for a game or two.”
“Duh nuh duh nuh duh nuh…” The amusingly unintimidating musical voice almost whispered in the air when Opaque spotted the pink mane coming towards him, slowly rising until her eager blue eyes came into view. He kept his awareness to a minimum, trying to keep Pinkie from catching on to the fact that he knew where she was. When she was only a few feet away, she sprang out of the low-lying grass, her mouth wide open to swallow Opaque whole. He gave a quick chuckle and fired himself forward at an incredible speed, leaving Pinkie to land face first into the candied pasture plants. She picked herself up with a mouthful of dream goodies, swallowing it in one gulp before looking in the direction Opaque shot off, seeing a black smoke trail he left behind. “Hey!” She shouted in frustration, giving the trail a disapproving glare as she got into a good running stance. Her hind legs jumped and began running in mid-air, greatly picking up speed. When they met the ground, Pinkie blasted forward at more than twice the speed Opaque had started with.
Having a decent head start, Opaque kept cruising at his current speed until he looked back and saw a pink missile quickly closing the gap between them. His eyes widened into large circles as he realized that he would be caught within a matter of seconds if he didn’t pick up the pace. He contorted his form into a bullet-like shape, vastly increasing his speed and causing the candy corn petals to be ripped from their gumdrop centers and threw the air for a long distance until Pinkie sped by, picking them up even further.
Opaque’s panicking thoughts raced through his mind as he tried to think of an illusion that could get him out of his predicament. He looked back again to see the hungry predator closing in rapidly, a look of fierce concentration strewn across her face as she focused on catching up to him.
Opaque thought up a good idea for an illusion and hurried to pull it off. His eyes closed as he thought of a giant chocolate cupcake with sprinkles in a large variety of colors on top. This image became dream reality as that same muffin grew from the ground until it was about the size for five ponies put together. Pinkie lost her focus when she saw the monstrously large treat that had magically appeared. She licked her lips before opening her mouth as wide as she could.
On the other side of the muffin, Opaque thought he had successfully distracted Pinkie Pie long enough to find a way to end this game of theirs. He slowed to a stop and let his form relax into an irregular shape as he breathed a sigh of relief, “Now, let’s see what I can do to keep that mare in one spot long enough to tell her what I need her to do.” Before another idea came to mind, he heard a loud chomp. When he looked back at the muffin, he saw Pinkie hurling towards him, continuing her unhindered speed with her pink streak leading back to a perfectly circular hole in the muffin distraction.
She was almost upon Opaque as he made a hasty illusion, “CAGE!” He screamed just before recoiling backwards. Pinkie instantly found herself slamming into the side of a wall made of crisscrossing metal bars. She picked herself up and instinctively began rubbing her head even though she didn’t feel any pain from impact.
“Hey! That’s cheating!” She exclaimed as she looked around at the inside of her thin-barred prison.
“NO, I just needed to talk for a moment.” Opaque started after finally getting his chance. He turned away from her and spoke while examining the rest of the plains, “You see Pinkie, I’ve got something that may catch your interest.”
“Ooh! Me too!” She interrupted him with unexpected joy. “Do you know what black and purple taffy tastes like?”
Opaque was confused at the question and turned back to the cage that was now somehow made of peppermint with a hole chewed through one of the sides and Pinkie standing right beside him with a bright smile. Opaque was shocked that she managed to alter her own dream so easily, and therefore speechless at her question. As she continued staring at him, he was compelled to give some kind of answer, “Uh… I wouldn’t exactly know. Do you?”
“I don’t know…” She crouched down, causing Opaque to attempt backing away only to find that he was now stuck in place. He looked down to the ground and discovered that his body was no longer composed of smoke and gas, but was now black and purple taffy. He looked back up to Pinkie just before she jumped into the air, “…but I know how I can find out!”
“No no no no…” Opaque panicked, trying to move out of the way only to tumble to the ground and causing himself to stick to the ground even more. Pinkie fell from the sky with her jaws wide open.
“Teleport? Invisibility?” Opaque tried several last minute attempts to evade the impressively skilled mare, but none of them were working for some unknown reason. He finally realized that he had no other choice but to close his eyes so that he couldn’t see the moment of his unrealistic demise; and with a loud chomp, he was no more.
Pinkie swallowed Opaque along with a large bite of ground, revealing that the sugary plants were growing from a surface made of chocolate cake. She then licked her lips and commented on the taste, “Mmm! Black licorice and grape! Not the best combo, but sweet altogether!”
* *
Opaque looked around in the complete darkness that was supposedly the inner workings of Pinkie Pie’s digestive system. “Do I dare?” He asked himself, thinking highly against the idea of conjuring up a light to discover exactly where he was. “Well, the sooner I do, the sooner I get out of here.” The dangling of a tiny bead chain sounded just a few inches from Opaque before he pulled it. There came a click as lights illuminated Pinkie’s stomach, which took the appearance of the common area of a bakery not too different from Sugar Cube Corner.
“Really?!” He again questioned the sheer predictability of the situation. He looked over the area and found that there were no doors or windows. “Well, I may be a little out of practice, but this shouldn’t be that difficult to get out of.” He glanced around at the shelves neatly organized with many different styles of cakes, donuts, cupcakes, and many more delicious treats.
“Aha!” Opaque exclaimed when he spotted a gap between a shelf filled with strawberry shortcakes and a display stand of cinnamon rolls. He glared at the spot, imagining an exit for the room until the wall conformed into a crude wooden door. “There we go, now I can finally get out of here and tell Pinkie…” He stopped and looked over himself before getting any closer to the exit. “I guess it would be a good idea to change my looks before meeting her again. I’m definitely not up for getting eaten again.”
Opaque retook the unicorn form he previously used to speak to Twilight. He then looked at his mostly transparent reflection in a glass case containing several rows of cheese Danishes. He focused on his mouth, opening it to reveal the traditional set of sharp teeth, “Now, let’s start by changing these.” He scanned over his canines as they flattened into normal pony teeth. He then grinded them together and smacked his lips as he got used to the uncomfortable change in his mouth “Ugh, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to these dull ones.” His gaze rose to his strange eyes, “I’ll just add some white here, some black there, then a bit of highlighting and…” When the completely green eyes changed to look like the average pony’s, He smiled at the reflection and winked at himself, “Perfect!”
He lost his smile as a disturbing thought entered his mind. “I’m still missing something… but what is it?” He asked his reflection, looking over his body to double check himself, “I’ve got a mane, some normal teeth and eyes, my height’s about right…” When he turned to examine the rest of his temporary body, he spotted what was amiss, “Ah, the cutie mark.” The fur on his flank began changing white until the silhouette of a single hoof print took shape. “This will have to do since I can’t use my usual symbol.”
He returned his attention to the exit when it mysteriously opened on its own. Opaque stretched his neck out and cautiously took a step forward as he struggled to see who was lurking in the thick shadows on the other side of the door. He withdrew his suspicion, closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head. He reopened his eyes and let out a chuckle, “You gonna come in or what?”
After asking this, Pinkie pie came hopping into the room. “Aww, how’d you know it was me?” She questioned him in disappointment.
“Oh please, only you would be so random enough as to walk into your own stomach.” Opaque answered with a light laugh before turning away and adding on, this time speaking only to himself, “That, and it kind of helps to know that it’s YOUR dream.”
“What was that last part?” Pinkie raised an eyebrow at him.
Opaque returned his attention to her with a smile, “Never mind, just kind of chitchatting with myself for a moment.” He quickly declared. “I’ve come to ask you to do me a very big favor.”
“What kind of favor?” She eagerly asked. She dashed over to the display case containing the cheese Danishes, “Oh, hang on a second, I haven’t had one of these in a while!” Opaque smiled and rolled his eyes at her as she opened the glass and devoured the goodies within. As she ate, Opaque conjured up a glass of milk for her, setting it on the case next to the Danishes. When she was finished eating, she lifted her head and found the glass waiting for her. “Hmm! Fankth!” She gratefully thanked him with a mouthful of sweets before washing it down with the drink.
Opaque decided to continue as she drank to keep from being interrupted again, “Now listen, Pinkie. There are some very special ponies on their way to Ponyville and I need you to make them feel welcome.”
“Really!?!” Pinkie shouted out of astonishment as she started bouncing in place, “Who are they! Tellmetellmetellme!”
Opaque sat back on his haunches, rolling his eyes at the overexcited avatar of Pinkie before using his magic to suspend her in the air to get her to focus on his message, “Ok Pinkie, settle down. I can’t tell you who they are just yet.”
“But I can’t settle down!” She admitted her obvious lack of control as she spun and turned herself in the air from the shear anxiety of the wondrous news. Opaque lowered his sight to the spot where she would land once he let her go. He kept his magic active, patiently waiting for her writhing to stop. “I gotta know! Why can’t you tell me!?! Why, huh? Whywhywhywhy?!?!” The increasing speed in her speech showed her obvious refusal to surrender. After a few more seconds of repeated requests, Opaque raised his gaze when he thought up a clever idea to keep her on edge while also sating his puzzling side as well.
“Why don’t we turn this into a game?” When he spoke, Pinkie stopped her frantic and vain struggling as she floated in the air, hanging upside down while listening to his proposal with an eager expression on her face. “I will let you know when the next guest will arrive. However, as with any game, there are rules to follow.”
“Ok! What are the rules?” The currently upside down Pinkie asked as she flipped herself over in a standing position.
Opaque explained as he set her on the ground, “I’ve already stated the first rule earlier; you are to help Twilight bond these newcomers together.”
Pinkie tilted her head at him and spoke questioningly, “Bond?”
“By bond, I mean you need to make sure they become friends.” He clarified, “They must grow just as attached to each other as you are to your own friends.”
“Well, that shouldn’t be too hard.” She smiled at him, confident in her ability to follow this particular standard.
“Are you sure?” Opaque raised an eyebrow, “You remember what you went through with your friends, right?”
“Sure!” She answered energetically, counting off the events on one hoof, “We had lots of fun at all my parties, spent lots of time with Rarity when she was making our Grand Galloping Gala dresses… OOH, and the Grand Galloping Gala, the big red meanie dragon…”
“But what was your first adventure?” Opaque interrupted, lowering his eyebrow and awaiting her answer.
Pinkie stopped naming off the events that she and her friends had shared and remembered their very first adventure together, “The mare in the moon.” A large amount of her excitement vanished as she recalled the life changing event. This forced her to think aloud, “Well… where are we gonna find another evil princess stuck in a moon? As far as I know, Nightmare Moon was the only one we had, and we already took care of that.” She scratched her chin, pondering exactly how she would pull off another large adventure such as that.
Before an idea reached her, Opaque pressed on, “Never mind that detail for the time being, I’ll take care of it once you are properly acquainted. Now moving on, the second rule is that you can’t mention this dream, or me, to anyone.”
“Why not?” The inquisitive mare asked.
Opaque gave her a warming smile and explained, “Because you’ll ruin the surprise.” He ended the statement with a curiosity wrenching wink, almost getting Pinkie riled up again. She grew a wide smile and let out a short squeal only to quickly plant a hoof over her mouth to keep from losing control over herself again.
Opaque proceeded, “Now rule three, if you stick to the first two rules, you will get a reward, though hopefully you won’t have to wait too long to receive it. But the fourth rule before I leave…” He walked over to the still open door that he conjured up earlier, standing just in front of the shadows as he turned his head back to Pinkie, “I can make up more rules as I see fit.”
Pinkie gave him a disapproving glare, “Hey! Isn’t that cheating?”
“Not if it’s a rule!” He happily answered, forcing some angry disappointment from his playful pawn. He saw the loss of joy on her face and decided cheer her up a bit before departing, “Well, I guess I could give you a little hint about your reward….” He spoke as he slowly entered the shadows. Just before he had completely disappeared, Pinkie perked back up quick enough to catch the end of his parting statement, “…he’s a unicorn.”
